Summertime In Pickford
by philfanatic08
Summary: Join the Pickford gang in their summer adventures. Phil and Keely have thoughts about being more than friends. Phil gets a new job, Keely welcomes some visitors, and Pim faces the horrors of summer school.
1. School's Out For Summer

(I should probably be updating Time Travel Exchange, but I'm not totally sure where to go with it. So I thought I'd add a new story that I have more of a plan for. Hope you like it!)

D/C: I don't own anything

BRRRIIINNNGGG! The final bell of the final day of school pierced the air.

"NO MORE SCHOOL! NO MORE SCHOOL! NO MORE SCHOOL"! everyone was yelling. Phil and Keely went to their lockers, got their stuff, and walked out the school.

"So, anything big going on this summer"? Phil asked her.

"Well, my dad and sister are flying in from New York tonight," Keely said. "Don't know if I'm looking forward to seeing them or not."

"I haven't heard you talk much about them," Phil said. "What are they like"?

"Well, my dad is the kind of person who calls once a year and sends a card congratulating me on turning 14 when I was really turning 15," Keely said. "And my sister is just, well, out there on planet X."

"So have you seen them in a while"? Phil asked.

"Not since I was 12," Keely replied. "They finally decided that they should pay a visit to see me. I know my mom and dad will probably be fighting the whole summer, but they're going to try to work the visit."

They arrived at Phil's house where Barb was looking at Phil and Pim's report cards that had just come in the mail.

"Phil, looks like you passed everything with a 97 overall average," Barb said.

"That's great," Keely said to Phil. "Wish I could get those kind of grades."

"Oh, no, not the report cards," Pim said, entering the kitchen, then turning back around to leave.

"Come back here," Barb said. "I'm seeming to notice that you failed science."

"By two points"! Pim said. "Big deal."

"I don't care if it's by two points or twenty," Barb said. "You're going to summer school."

"Summer school"! Pim asked. "You mean like school in the summer"?

"Yes, that being the term 'summer school'," Barb said.

"Why the heck do I got to go to summer school"? Pim asked.

"Maybe cause you flunked fall, winter, and spring school," Phil said and Pim gave him a Look. Lloyd came in just then.

"Guess who's here"? he asked.

"Not those stupid fashion zombies again," Pim said with a groan.

"No, it's the swimming pool guy," Lloyd said. "He's here to set up our new in-ground pool! We're going to be cool this summer."

"We're really getting a swimming pool"? Phil asked. "Took me forever to talk you into getting some AC in here."

"Great, now everyone'll be swimming and I'll be stuck in summer school for all of July," Pim said. The doorbell rang just then.

"Stop complaining and get the door," Barb said. Pim walked to the door and saw a man and a girl with suitcases.

"Is this the Teslow residence"? the man asked.

"No, this is 182 Maple Drive," Pim said. "They live at 184 Maple Drive. Get your numbers right for God's sake"! She slammed the door and walked back into the kitchen.

"What was that all about"? Phil asked.

"Stupid foreigners got the wrong house," Pim said.

"Well, what were they looking for"? Keely asked.

"Your house," Pim said.

"My house"? Keely asked. "Great, must be my dad and sister. Better go see what they've been up to the last three years of my life."

"See you later, then," Phil said. "Come over tomorrow to swim if you want."  
"Oh I will for sure," Keely said. "Cause I know I'll get tired of my mom and dad's fighting. See ya later." Keely left and Barb came into the kitchen and started setting the table for dinner.

"So, Keely's dad and sister are visiting"? Barb asked Phil.

"Yeah, from New York," Phil said. " I just don't understand why she's not happier to see them."  
"Well, problems like that are common with children of divorce," Barb said.

"Mom, have you been reading one of those 21st century parenting books again"? Pim asked.

"Hey, those can be very useful," Barb said.

Keely arrived home to find her mom, dad, and sister Rebecca in the kitchen.

"Hi, Keely, good to see you again," her dad said. "Where've ya been"?  
"Friend's house," Keely said. "So, how've ya been"?

"Great," said Rebecca. "I mean, come on, we live in New York City."

"Keely, Rebecca will be staying in your room, so why don't you remind her where it is," Keely's mom said and Keely and Rebecca went upstairs.

"I never knew you had so many pictures in here," Rebecca said. Keely's walls were covered with pictures of her and Phil on different occasions.

"Yeah, I frame a lot of them," Keely said.

"Hey, that's the girl who yelled at us next door," Rebecca said pointing to Pim in one of the pictures. "Is that your boyfriend in all those pictures"? she asked referring to Phil.

"Well, no," Keely said. "Not yet at least."

"Not yet"? Rebecca asked. "What's that supposed to mean"?

"Oh, nothing," Keely said quickly.

(A/N: It's short, but my first chapters are always a short introduction to the story. Stay tuned in the next chapter for more summer adventures by the Pickford gang.)


	2. In For Adventures

"Bout time you got up," Lloyd said to Pim as she was coming down the stairs. "Today's your first day of summer school."

"Like you needed to remind me," Pim said.

"Hey, it's only for three hours a day, for the month of July," Barb said. "Pass the end of the month exam, and you'll have August free."

"Anyway, another thing, Fourth of July is coming up next week," Lloyd said. "Phil, is Tia's family having their Fourth of July party this year"?

"No, she's going away to visit her grandparents in Colorado for the week," Phil said. "But we can have our own party."

"We could do that," Barb said. "We just need to buy a grill and learn how to use it."

"Oh, no," Pim said. "You're not going to attempt to cook something 21st century style again, are you"?

"She's not," Lloyd said. "I am."

"Great," Pim said. "I'll have the fire extinguishers ready." With that she headed off to school.

"Well, we're headed off to work," Barb said to Phil. "If you go anywhere, don't lock your sister out."

"Don't worry, I will," Phil said. Barb gave him a Look.

"Okay, I won't," Phil said.

"Good," Barb said. "If you could, run down to the grocery store later on and pick up these things." She gave Phil a grocery list and he took it.

"Sure, I will," Phil said. "See you later." His parents left and Phil walked over to Keely's.

Keely had been with her dad and sister for only a week, and they were already driving her up the wall. Her dad was asking about every detail of her life, and her sister was bragging on and on about how great New York City was. Her mom hadn't been around a lot. She'd been putting in a lot of overtime at work, lately. Keely figured her mom didn't like the idea of her dad staying in the same house as her. Her mom only arranged the visit so Keely could see her dad and sister without having to fly across the country. Keely got a break from their constant blabbering when the doorbell rang. She answered it and saw Phil there.

"Phil, hey, what's going on"? she asked him.

"Just home alone all morning, not much to do" Phil said. "How's the family reunion going"?

"Boring," Keely said. "They do nothing but blabber. My dad asks too many questions, and my sister blabbers on and on about New York."

"Well, whenever you get bored, come on over," Phil said.

"Sure, I will later," Keely said. "My dad wants us all to go to Friendly's for lunch, first."

"Okay, see you later then," Phil said.

"Yup, later," Keely said and closed the door.

Pim arrived at summer school to see that Mr. Hackett was the teacher.

"Come on in, Pim," he said. "You're just in time." She took a seat and moments later, Candida, leader of the fashion zombies, walked in and sat down in the seat next to her.

"What the heck are you doing here"? Pim asked her.

"I'm in lame-o summer school, what's it look like," she said. "And if you tell ANY of my friends about it, I will personally torture you. Or I might just torture you anyway."

"Welcome to the interesting world of science," Mr. Hackett said. "Be prepared to work, work, work, if you want to pass the end of the month exam. We'll start from the beginning of the book, so open up to page one." They all opened their books and notebooks to take notes. _'This is going to be a looong month,'_ Pim thought.

Phil walked down to the grocery store to get the things on his mom's grocery list. He saw a Help Wanted sign on the window.

'_Maybe I can work here,' _he thought. _'I am a little short on the cash, and Keely's birthday is coming up next month. I want to get her something nice.'_ He walked into the store, got the items, and waited in line. It seemed like forever until he finally got up to check out.

"Sorry about the wait," the cashier said to Phil. "We're a little shorthanded since we had to let go of a few of our workers a couple of weeks ago."

"That's okay," Phil said. "Hey, I saw your Help Wanted sign on the window. Any way I can apply for a job here"?

"Well, yes," the cashier said. "That would be great! The manager is on lunch now, but he'll be done soon. Can you come back in about a half hour to talk to him"?

"Sure, I'll be back then, thanks" Phil said and started to walk home with the bag of groceries.

Pim was overjoyed to get out of summer school in three hours. Not so overjoyed when Debbie Berwick saw her and followed her home. She was trying to get Pim to help in her summer volunteer program at the Pickford County Nursing Home.

"For the last time, Berwick, stop bugging me about charity," Pim said to her once she reached her house. "Go find some other sucker to do this stuff with you."

"But it's for a really good cause," Debbie said enthusiastically.

"I don't care," Pim said. "Now I'm home now, so you go home, too." She slammed the door and walked inside.

"Hey, there's nobody home," Pim said to herself when she stepped into the kitchen. "I've got the whole house to myself. I can bust up stuff."

Phil walked into the house moments later with the groceries. He saw Pim walking around with a hammer.

"What do you think you're doing with that hammer"? Phil asked her.

"Busting stuff," Pim said. "What do you think you're doing"?

"Been to the grocery store like Mom asked," Phil said. "And she asked you to paint the garage door, not bust up the house. Give me that hammer." Phil grabbed the hammer from her.

"Oh, please," Pim said. "Do you know how many times that door has been painted? If Mom's not happy with it now, she'll never be. I'd rather spend my time doing something useful."

"Oh, yeah, useful as in tearing up the house," Phil said. "And why do you have the AC on so high? You're just wasting electricity." Phil walked over and turned the unit down.

"Like I care," Pim said.

"Oh, you'll care if Mom makes you start paying the electric bill around here," Phil said. "Anyway, I'm out. Put these groceries away. And I better not see fish on the garage door when I get back." Phil then left to go back to the grocery store.

Keely, her dad, and Rebecca were at Friendly's waiting to order. The waitress finally came over to take their order. After ordering, Keely's dad went off to the bathroom, and Rebecca brought up something to Keely.

"Hey, Keely, that guy you've been telling me about, Phil was his name," Rebecca started. "Do you, well, like him"?

"Why does everyone think that"? Keely asked. "My friend Tia thinks that, my friend Seth, who's super slow, also thinks that. And now you, who I've only seen for a week, thinks I like Phil."  
"Well, I think you do just because of the way you talk about him," Rebecca said. "And the fact that there's pictures of you guys all over your room. But you don't like him as more than a friend, then"?

"Well, actually, I do," Keely said, then thought, _'Did I just say that out loud to one of the world's biggest talkers'?_ "But you better not tell ANYONE about it," Keely said to Rebecca.

"Tell anyone what"? Keely's dad asked, coming back.

"Oh, nothing," Keely said. "Let's eat."

After talking to the boss and filling out a bunch of paperwork, Phil had gotten the job at the grocery store. He could start the next day as long as he got some forms signed by his parents. He walked back home to see that the fish were gone from the garage door, but a big grizzly bear was painted on there in their place.

"Pim, get that thing off the door," Phil said to Pim as he walked in. "Some little kid will walk by and have the living daylights scared out of them."  
"Great, now you get my point of putting it there," Pim said.

"Take it off now," Phil said, then they heard a scream from the front yard.

"AAAAHHHHH"! someone yelled from outside. The kids ran out to see that Lloyd, Barb, and Curtis were home. Curtis was banging at the grizzly bear on the garage door, apparently thinking it was real and trying to fight it.

"Curtis, back away from the door," Lloyd said. "Phil, change the door." Phil zapped the door painter gadget, and an American flag picture came up.

"Perfect for the Fourth of July," Barb said. Phil left it and went inside to e-mail his friends about the party.

E-mail-

From: pdiffy07

To: xokeelyxo; fashiondramaqueen07; algebrabrain07

Subject: July 4th

Hey guys, what's up? Just wanted to let you guys know that my family's having a 4th of July party at my house on Saturday, and ya'll are invited. Come over whenever you feel like it (but not early like 5AM cause no one will be up). Tia, I know you won't be in town, so have fun on vacation in Colorado. See ya'll later!

PS: I got a job at the grocery store today. Now I won't be broke!

End E-mail

(A/N: Sorry for taking all week to update. It took a while to do this chapter, and I was reading this book that gave me some inspiration on how to work the Phil/Keely stuff later on. Stay tuned for the next chapter, which will have their 4th of July party. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep 'em coming:-))


	3. 4th of July

"Happy, happy 4th of July," Barb said to Lloyd coming down the stairs.

"Happy, happy," Lloyd said. "I'm up, at 'em, and ready to grill."

"But before you do, be sure to read this," Pim said, handing Lloyd a book.

"_Grilling for Dummies_," Lloyd read off the front cover. "Guess I could put this to good use."

"And if you _still_ burn something, I can put this to good use," Pim said, holding up a fire extinguisher. Moments later, the three occupants of the kitchen heard a yell, then running feet down the stairs. They turned to see Curtis running downstairs; carrying some party decorations that Barb had bought the day before. At the bottom of the stairs, he tripped, fell on his face, and lost all the decorations.

"Curtis, where are you going with the decorations"? Lloyd asked.

"Outside, for big party today," Curtis said.

"I'm glad I didn't buy anything breakable," Barb said, picking up some of the mess.

Meanwhile, Phil and Keely were outside setting up some tables and chairs.

"So who all's coming to this anyway"? Keely asked.

"Basically just you, Seth, and whatever family you guys invited," Phil said. "And some of our neighbors will come and go." Curtis brought out the decorations to Phil and Keely for them to put up.

"Come on, let's get started," Keely said. "Grab a tablecloth."

"Like we're gonna spend an hour putting this stuff up," Phil said. He got his Wizrd, zapped the party area, and then it instantly became fully decorated. "There, easy as that. Let's go put these back."

After reading the grilling book, Lloyd was finally figuring out how to set up and start the grill. He put some hamburgers on, and at about eleven o'clock, people started to arrive. First were Keely's mom, dad, sister, and a few of her cousins. The kids went on to swim in the pool, while the adults found a place to sit and talk. Later on, Seth came with some relatives, as did Debbie Berwick and Bradley Benjamin Farmer. Pim got mad at her mother when she saw those two show up.

"Mom, I cannot BELIEVE that you invited them," Pim said to her mother.

"Well, they're _your_ friends," Barb said.

"Friends"? Pim asked. "They're not friends. They're just annoying people that follow me everywhere."

"Well, you'll have to deal with them for the afternoon," Barb said. "They're not that terrible."

"Pim, come on over here and swim with us," Debbie yelled to her in her usual happy way. Pim rolled her eyes and walked over to the pool.

Lloyd finally got the first round of hamburgers cooked in about an hour.

"Who wants a hamburger," he called to the crowd. The people lined up and the burgers were gone in two seconds. There wasn't enough to feed even half of the crowd. "Guess I better make more of these," Lloyd said to himself, as he put the second round on.

Phil and Keely found a place to sit and eat at one of the tables.

"So, Phil, don't forget the fireworks tonight," Keely said to him.

"Yup," Phil said. "At Pickford City Park. The Pickford Penny Pincher says that they're having a band perform before the fireworks."

"Hey, that's cool," Keely said excitedly. "We might meet some rock stars."

"Keel, this is _Pickford_ we're talking about," Phil said with a laugh. "I highly doubt that any really famous people will show up. It's just going to be a local band."

"I heard once that Britney Spears showed up in Pickford," Seth said, overhearing the conversation and sitting down. "But that was because her plane emergency landed here on the way back to Hollywood because it ran out of gas."

"I don't remember that story," Phil said.

"Oh, it was before you moved from 'Kansas,'" Keely said. Phil, Keely, and Seth finished eating and went back to the swimming pool. People continued to eat, talk, swim, and eat some more all afternoon. Lloyd did surprisingly well with the cooking and had yet to set anything on fire. The party was going pretty well. Neighbors came and went throughout the afternoon, some bringing their own stuff to put on the grill. Mr. Hackett had taken a break from pruning his shrubs to come over. Once, Pim got mad when Bradley spit Coke on her by accident, and she 'accidentally on purpose' pushed him into the pool. A soaked Bradley came up from underwater, and pulled Pim into the pool. Pim started splashing him like crazy, with Bradley splashing her right back. Their 'splash fight' ended when Curtis came running out of the garage, and did a belly flop off the diving board into the pool with his clothes on. It felt like half of the pool drained when he made a big splash.

"AAAAHHHH"! he yelled, and began splashing everybody. The occupants of the pool screamed and quickly got out.

"Who's this weirdo"? some of the people demanded.

"This is our very distant cousin," Phil said. "Don't mind him, he has an extreme case of hyperactivity disorder, and he forgot to take his medicine today." Phil got Curtis out of the pool, and Barb gave him new clothes and told him not to disturb the party any more. The pool occupants were able to get back in and swim again. Rebecca decided to try to stir up a diving competition.

"Hey, guess who can do a front flip off the diving board," she shouted. "Yep, that'd be this kid right here." She got on the diving board and did the flip.

"Oh, yeah," Pim retorted. "Well, guess who can do a _back_ flip. That'd be me." She did a back flip, and Pim and Rebecca continued the diving contest for a while. Twenty minutes later, they were still at it, each trying to do better than the other. Pim was on the diving board again, but when she got to the end, she tripped in a wet spot and slipped off the board and ended up doing a belly flop into the water. She didn't think much of it, until she looked up and saw Candida and her friends standing at the edge of the pool with a picture phone. She walked over to them.

"What the heck are you doing here"? she asked them angrily.

"Oh, just getting a perfect blog moment on camera," Candida said. "Oh, and some hot dogs."

"Who invited you"? Pim demanded.

"Your mom let us in," Candida said. "Just thought we'd drop by and tell you that you're _not _invited to _my_ big 4th of July party tonight. I thought it would be rude to tell you over the phone, so we came by! Well, that's all I want to say, except see you on the cover of the Pickford Penny Pincher." The fashion zombies walked off, laughing.

"Someday, I'm gonna get you all back," Pim said to herself.

"Get who back"? Debbie asked, coming up behind her.

"Berwick, stop doin' that"! Pim said angrily, and walked over to find her mother. Turns out her mom didn't know that Candida and her crew were the 'fashion zombies', because they'd told her that they were friends of Pim's just to get into the party.

Meanwhile, Phil, Keely, and Seth were in the pool playing 3-on-3 water basketball with some of Keely's cousins. Phil, Keely, and Seth had won all but one of the games. They were on their fifth game when Barb came over and said that they should all get ready to leave for the fireworks. After the party guests left, Phil's family cleaned up the yard a little, then put on their best patriotic attire. They went over to meet Keely's family because they were all riding together in Keely's mom's van.

They showed up at the city park to see that the band was already playing. About 5,000 people scattered the park in lawn chairs. They finally found a place to spread out and sit down. Phil went off to get food for the group, and he ran into Ms. Levy, the school music teacher, in the midst of the crowd.

"Hi Phil," she said. "Is Keely here"?  
"Yeah, she's over with our families," Phil said.

"Great, I was wondering if she might want to sing the national anthem before the fireworks later," Ms. Levy said. "Tara Schrader was supposed to, but she's come down with laryngitis, so I really would like another student to do it, and I know she's a great singer."

"I'm sure I can talk her into it," Phil said.

"Great," Ms. Levy said. "Tell her to come to the front tent by the stage at 9:30." Phil got some food and went back to where his family was sitting.

"Hey Keel, guess what," Phil said. "You're singing the national anthem tonight."

"How'd you manage that"? Keely asked.

"I saw Ms. Levy," Phil said. "The person who was supposed to do it has laryngitis."

"I don't know Phil," Keely said. "I mean there's _five thousand_ people here."

"It doesn't matter how many people there are," Phil said. "I know you can do it. And did I mention that this can be your chance to outshine Tara."

"How so"? Keely asked.

"Tara was supposed to sing, but got laryngitis," Phil said. "But she's somewhere in the audience watching. If you do this, you can show her once and for all that the puking story is a thing of the past."

"Maybe you're right," Keely said. "I'll do it." They all watched the rest of the concert, and at 9:30, Keely went over to the tent.

"Just think that I'm the only one here," Phil said to her as she got ready to go up. Keely went up to sing, and when she was singing, some military guys came in front of the stage with the flag. When she finished singing, the crowd of 5,000 broke out in applause. Keely stepped down and went to hug Phil, who was standing a little ways from the stage taping the whole thing on his mom's video camera.

"Keel, you did awesome"! Phil said to her.

"Thanks, Phil," she said with a smile. "I can't believe that I actually sang in front of 5,000 people."

"Keel, like I said, it doesn't matter how many people there are," Phil said. "All that matters is that you have someone out there who's cheering you on every step of the way."

"And that would be you," Keely said and Phil smiled.

"Come on, let's go back and sit down," Phil said. "The fireworks will start soon." The were walking back when they saw Tara. She just shot them an angry look, seeing as she couldn't talk, and Phil and Keely continued back to their seats. They got back and Keely was congratulated by her parents and Phil's parents. Rebecca was blabbering about something to Pim. A few minutes later, the band stopped playing and the fireworks started. They lasted for about twenty minutes, and afterwards, they had to wait forever to be able to escape the crowd. They finally did, and made it back to the van. Mandy had parked in the worst possible area in the park, and it took 30 minutes just to get out of there. By the time they got out, Lloyd, Barb, and Keely's dad had drifted off to sleep squeezed together in one backseat. Pim and Rebecca were snoring away, taking up an entire backseat. Phil was half asleep when he felt a THUD on the back of his seat. Pim had kicked the seat in her sleep. Phil noticed that Keely was also asleep, leaning over onto him. Phil smiled and slid an arm around her, then going back to sleep the rest of the way home.

(Here's the long awaited update! These past few weeks, I've either been busy or lazy, and have been slow working on this. I might have put too many things going on and not enough Pheely in this chapter, but there will be more Pheely later on. I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner. Thanks for the reviews, keep 'em coming!)


	4. Hot Days and Long Nights

About a week later, Phil, Keely, Tia, and Seth were in Phil's house trying to stay out of the hot. They'd been swimming, but then realized that the water in the pool was just making them hotter.

"What's the point of having a pool if it feels like a hot tub"? Tia asked.

"And air conditioning if it still feels like 100 in here," Seth said.

"I know what you're saying, it's way too hot here," Phil said.

"I'd love a vacation to Alaska right about now," Keely said.

"Well, there's one place in this town I know we can go to that's not hot," Tia said.

"The mall"? Phil asked.

"It's the coolest place in town," Keely said.

"Great, let's go," Tia said.

"Tia, do you really want to go to the mall in your bathing suit"? Keely asked, noticing Tia still had her swimsuit on.

"Oops," Tia said. "Be right back, I'll go change." Tia changed and they set off for the mall.

"Aaah, relief," Tia said when they walked in.

"Sure does feel a heck of a lot cooler in here," Phil said.

"Well, it's 95 degrees outside, and 70 in here, so do the math, and it's 25 degrees cooler in here," Seth said.

"Thank you for the technical talk, Professor Wosmer," Tia said. "Come on, let's go shopping."

"Great, you girls go spend your hard-earned dollars clothes shopping," Seth said. "We're going to walk around."

"Okay, we'll be in Old Navy," Keely said.

"We'll meet you there when you're done," Phil said, and he and Seth walked off in one direction, and Keely and Tia in the other.

-----------

"Pim, are you still with us"? Mr. Hackett asked, noticing that she was about to go to sleep.

"I guess so," Pim said, sitting up.

"Listen up class, because I'm about to assign a project for our first unit of study, the human body," Mr. Hackett said. He briefly explained it, then handed each person his or her individual project.

"Now, you have all weekend and part of next week to work on this," Mr. Hackett said. "This will be due on Wednesday. Any questions"? The class shook their heads. "All right, you're out of here." Everyone ran out before Mr. Hackett could finish his sentence. Pim walked out and read her project paper. Her topic was to see how sleep deprivation affects the human body. She had to stay up for two nights and write an essay on behavioral effects.

"Staying up for 2 whole days, that sounds like fun," Pim said. "But on every kind of 'fun' project we get, we've got to write a dumb essay at the end." She walked downtown to McDonalds to get something to eat with the money she'd taken from Phil's room that morning. After that, she walked around, until Rebecca saw her and challenged her to foosball at the arcade.

"You're on," Pim said, and they went into the arcade.

-----------

"How much longer are you gonna be here"? Seth asked. Keely and Tia had been clothes shopping for two hours, and that was really starting to bore out Phil and Seth. They'd been to twenty other stores in the same amount of time as Keely and Tia were in Old Navy.

"Just let us try these outfits on," Tia said. "The changing rooms are full; I should have brought my portable changing room."

"Great, if you need us, we'll be at the food court," Phil said, and he and Seth left the store. Keely and Tia finally finished shopping and met Phil and Seth at a table at the food court.

"Sorry we took so long," Keely said, sitting down.

"You see, there was a sale at Old Navy, and I had Daddy's gold card," Tia said. "I couldn't resist getting some new outfits." They all got lunch, and then decided to head home because they all had things to do that afternoon.

-----------

"Berwick, for the last time, stop following me home," Pim said.

"But I think that a charity yard sale is a great idea," Debbie said.

"If I were going to have a yard sale, I'd be selling other people's things and keeping the profits," Pim said.

"You know, I really think you should help with this," Debbie said. "I'll be doing it when I get back from Florida."

"Oh, great," Pim said sarcastically. "Wait, did you say you're going to Florida"?  
"Yup, for two weeks," Debbie said. "It's gonna be so much fun"!

"Yeah, fun not having you around," Pim mumbled as she reached her house.

"Well, see you in two weeks," Debbie said, and walked off.

Pim ran into her house and shouted, "YESSS"! Phil and Keely were in the kitchen, and they just stared at her.

"What are you so happy about"? Keely asked.

"Berwick's taking off to Florida for two weeks"! Pim said, and ran into the living room.

"Okkaayy," Keely said to Phil. "Anyway, I'd better get home before my dad sends the dogs. He'll freak if I'm a second late getting home."  
"I need to get down to the store," Phil said. "I'm working the afternoon shift today."

"Have fun," Keely said. "See ya tomorrow."

"See ya," Phil said.

-----------

"You're a minute late," The boss said to Phil. "Where've you been, on a date"?

"No, I was just, um, at home," Phil said, wondering why he was making such a deal over a minute's tardiness.

"Then next time, be on time," the boss said. "An employee can't clock out until you clock in." Phil clocked in and then ended up stocking items on a shelf that a delivery truck had just brought. He couldn't help but think that the reason he got this job was because he had an idea of what to get Keely for her birthday, but was running low on cash. He'd had it figured out that he liked her, but just didn't have the guts to tell her yet. He thought that maybe on her birthday he could surprise her and tell her. But first he had to talk to Tia.

"Excuse me, sir," a woman said, interrupting Phil's thoughts.

"Yes," Phil replied.

"I'm looking for my 4-year-old who ran off a few minutes ago," the woman said. "Have you seen her"?

"No," Phil said. "But hold on, I'll announce it over the intercom."

"Great, thank you," the woman said. He made the announcement, and moments later, a man with a little girl came walking over.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," the woman said, running over to her child and thanking the man for finding her. The rest of work went pretty well for Phil. He got cash register duty after stocking shelves, and no more little kids ran off. He clocked out for the night at 8:00 and went home.

-----------

Keely went home to see that both of her parents were in the kitchen, which surprised her, because her mom had been putting in a lot of overtime lately.

"Mom, you're home early," Keely said.

"I decided to take the night off for once," her mom said. "Your father and I are going down to our old favorite restaurant for old time's sake tonight. I made a chicken noodle casserole for you kids."

"What've you got in those bags"? her dad asked.

"Oh, just some new outfits," Keely said. "We all went down to the mall today because it was too hot to do anything else."  
"We all, as in"? her dad asked.

"Phil, Tia, Seth, and me," Keely said. "Anyway, have fun tonight. I'm gonna go sort through these clothes." She ran up to her room and dumped her bags on her bed.

"Hey, what've you got there"? Rebecca asked, coming in the room.

"Just some new outfits from the mall," Keely replied.

"I just beat Pim at foosball down at the arcade," Rebecca said. "Five times to be exact."

"Oh, so that's the reason you came in here, to brag about something else," Keely mumbled to herself.

"What"? Rebecca asked.

"Oh, nothing," Keely said, and Rebecca walked off to the guest room to watch TV.

Keely remained in her room, thinking about her mom and dad.

'_Mom and Dad are actually going out to dinner together,'_ she thought. _'And they haven't had a major argument for a week. I wonder if they're on the road to getting back together. I mean, my mom's weird in her ways and my dad's way overprotective sometimes, but I've always hoped that someday, they would get back together. I don't even know why they divorced. I just hope it all works out for them in the end.'_ Keely put her outfits away and went downstairs to eat.

-----------

Phil was in the living room watching _Who Wants to Marry a Dentist_ when Pim strolled in, grabbing the remote and changing the channel.

"Hey, I was kind of watching that," Phil said.

"Too bad, cause I'm staying up all night and I'm gonna watch something good on TV," Pim said.

"Staying up all night?" Phil asked. "Why"?

"School project," Pim said.

"Just don't keep the rest of us awake," Phil said, and wandered off to bed. But the night was anything but quiet. At 11:00, soon after getting to sleep, Phil woke to what sounded like the grandfather clock, only it was louder. _'I think Dad needs to fix that clock because it's too loud,'_ he thought. But it wasn't the clock at all. It was Pim hitting her gongs, imitating a clock on the hour. Phil was about to go wring her neck when he heard his mom telling her to stop the disturbance. But at 11:30, the family was awoken again, this time to the blast of loud music. It was lowered seconds later. But they were awoken again at midnight to the bang of the gongs again. _'That's it,'_ Phil thought. _'I'm sleeping in the time machine tonight.'_ He went out of his room, grabbed a blanket from the closet, and went out into the time machine, being careful not to wake Curtis who was in the garage. Phil got to sleep and woke up a few hours later to see his parents sleeping in there as well.

Pim made noise all night, though now aware that her whole family was sleeping somewhere else, she just wasn't sure where. She ate and watched TV when she wasn't banging the gongs. By 2 AM she was getting rather bored, so she decided to make some prank calls. First, she called Debbie Berwick, knowing she'd leave for Florida the next day. Pim disguised her voice with the Wizrd, and told Debbie she'd won a million dollars and it would be sent to her in the mail.

"Ohmigosh, are you serious"! Debbie asked, not knowing it was Pim. "Now I just need to figure out what charity I want to give it to."

"Well, be watching your mail cause a big check's on it's way," Pim said, hung up, then said to herself, "One big fake check for Debbie Berwick coming right up." Pim then called Candida, saying that she'd won a million dollars also; only she'd have to meet her on the sidewalk down the street to get it. Pim had a plan to get rid of her once and for all, and she was going to put it to action. After Pim hung up, she used the Insta-Morph to disguise herself as Candida's best friend, Lindsey (A/N- I made up the name). She grabbed a pie that was in the fridge and went down the street to see Candida.

"Lindsey what are you doing here"? Candida asked.

"Just here to tell you that you didn't really win a million dollars," Lindsey/Pim said.

"What do you mean"? Candida asked. "Wait, was that YOU on the phone"?

"It was me all right," Lindsey/Pim said, and then she chucked the pie at Candida's face.

"What did you do that for"! Candida shouted at her.

"Just wanted to tell you I'm through with you and your dumb schemes," Lindsey/Pim said.

"Fine, be that way"! Candida shouted. "But you'll never be cool again as long as you live! And you better believe I'll be getting you back after this 3 AM wake up call"! Candida ran back home, and Pim did too. She thought that she might just have gotten rid of her. Now that she'd caused tension within the Fashion Zombie group, maybe they'd leave her alone. With the two leaders fighting, it wouldn't be long before the whole group would be fighting. Pim got home and spent the rest of the night keeping awake. The rest of her family came in a few hours later.

"Where'd you all go, Motel 6"? Pim asked when they came in.

"Actually, we all slept in the time machine," Barb said.

"Seeing as someone was trying to keep us awake all night," Phil added.

"Hey, where's my banana cream pie"? Barb asked, looking in the fridge.

"Uhh, Curtis ate it," Pim said. Everyone turned to look at her to see that she had pie on her shirt where Candida had thrown some back at her.

"It looks like YOU ate it," Lloyd said.

"Sheesh, you're getting as bad as Curtis," Phil said. "Maybe you're the one who needs a job."

"How did she eat that thing"? Lloyd whispered to Barb.

"I don't care how she ate it, she's grounded for a week," Barb said.

"But I was hungry," Pim lied.

"I'm not talking about the pie," Barb said. I'm talking about you running us all out of the house with your incessant noise last night."

"How was I supposed to stay awake"? Pim asked.

"Try something that doesn't keep the rest of us awake," Lloyd said. "Like pinching yourself."

-----------

"Phil, I know she likes you," Tia said over the phone later that day. "Everyone does."

"Really"? Phil asked.

"Yeah," Tia said. "Don't tell her I told you this or she'll kill me, but she's waiting for you to ask her out."

"She said that"? Phil asked.

"Yeah, and that was a month ago," Tia said.

"So what are you saying I should do"? Phil asked.

"Hello"! Tia said. "You ask her out, and you do it before I'm old and gray"!

Phil laughed. "I'll talk to her soon." Tia's call waiting beeps.

"Potential boyfriend calling," Tia said. "Talk to you later."

"Later," Phil said and hung up.

(A/N: Here's the latest installment! Stay tuned for future chapters; there'll be more Pheely than in these first four. R&R, hope you like this so far:-))


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